Tattoo shop owners drawn to Belfair from Midwest

Bobby and Marsha Thomas own Ӧtzi’s Ink in Belfair, a new tattoo parlor. The Thomases moved to Grapeview last year after falling in love with the area on a road trip.(Photo: Arla Shephard Bull / Mason County Life)

As soon as they stepped foot in Washington state, Bobby and Marsha Thomas knew it would become their new home.

The Midwesterners take turns selecting a family road trip destination each year, and in the summer of 2016, they sojourned up the Pacific Coast on Highway 101.

“Our favorite thing is to trap our teenage daughter in a car and go someplace,” said Marsha Thomas. “Bobby has always loved the mountains and I love the water. When we drove into Washington, it was over.”

The Thomases own Belfair’s new tattoo parlor, Ӧtzi’s Ink, on Highway 3, and they couldn’t be happier with their decision to uproot their lives and make a home in Mason County.

“Everything fell into place,” Bobby Thomas said. “In the Midwest, it’s too hot and too muggy. I love the rain. And I didn’t want to work for a living. I wanted to work for a life. I wanted to minimize everything.”

The Thomases have been together for 20 years, and Bobby Thomas has been a tattoo artist for 18 — he’s always been an artist, but around the year 2000, he stumbled into his career.

“That was the year everyone was getting the Internet, and my friend printed out a photo of the tattoo he wanted,” Bobby Thomas recalled. “Of course, all these images came out at 720 DPI, very small, and the shops had a hard time tattooing anything from these tiny pictures.”

Thomas’ friend recruited him to draw out his tattoo for him, and when the tattoo shop saw his drawing, they hired him as an apprentice on the spot.

Marsha Thomas’ tattoo depicts her daughter trick-or-treating on Halloween when she was 6. Marsha and Bob Thomas married on Halloween 20 years ago.(Photo: Arla Shephard Bull / Mason County Life)

“At that time, in the Midwest, the mindset really was that you can’t make money as an artist,” Marsha Thomas recalled. “He is 100 percent an artist. Tattooing became a good field to get into, rather than design work.”

While Marsha Thomas worked in the photo and marketing industry, Bobby Thomas built his tattoo career, eventually going on to own his own shop in Columbia, Missouri: Bobby’s Body Shop.

He ran the shop for six years but had a feeling they’d someday move on from the Midwest, even though Missouri was the only home that their daughter, Annabelle, had known.

“We let her be a big part of the decision to move,” Marsha Thomas said. “She fell in love with it out here and even though she was in her senior year and had all of these friends, she started sending me Zillow links for houses out here.”

Bobby Thomas said he feels a pride for the area that he never had before for any of the places he’s lived, which, as an Army brat, includes several towns in the Midwest and overseas.

“I never wanted to be stuck in the Midwest,” he said. “We were just ready for a change. I’ve never been the type of guy who would tattoo the place they live on their body, but now I feel like getting PNW tattooed on.”

Thomas’ tattoo work is all custom-designed, with a slight bend toward realism, and while he can mimic many styles, he really prefers working with clients to achieve something they might not have thought possible.

“When people walk into the store with an idea, they leave here with a piece they’re not going to see anywhere else,” Marsha Thomas said. “He will draw until the customer likes it. It’s always about what’s right for the customer.”

The Thomases moved to Belfair in May 2017, then bought a home in June (they camped at Belfair State Park, Dewatto and Twanoh State Park in the meantime).

Ӧtzi’s Ink opened for business in October. The shop is named after the mummy that was discovered in the Ötztal Alps in 1991.

They are already planning to hire another artist and a piercer.

“We’ve had mostly local clients and everyone has been really friendly,” Bobby Thomas said. “We get folks from Bremerton, Shelton, Gig Harbor and Olympia, too. January was booked right away and I have February all half-booked.”

Marsha Thomas works remotely in the photo marketing industry for a company in Portland.

“It’s just an interesting name,” Bobby Thomas said. “You sit down with people for hours, so you have to have something to talk about … we’re chill and relaxed here. It’s not death metal and angry people.”